Ten Thousand Apologies, Adelle Stripe
Ten Thousand Apologies, Adelle Stripe
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

Ten Thousand Apologies
Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure: A Sunday Times Bestseller and Rough Trade Book of the Year

Author: Adelle Stripe, Lias Saoudi

Narrator: Emily Spowage, Lias Saoudi

Unabridged: 9 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: White Rabbit

Published: 02/24/2022

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER & A ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZE

'The story of a band that's always on the brink: of stardom, of madness, of brilliance, of disgrace' Miranda Sawyer, Observer
'You begin to wonder why more biographies aren't tackled with such invention' Record Collector
'This book is a rarity' Mark Lanegan
'One of the finest music books in aeons' Kevin Barry
'A bruising, exhilarating read, which captures the nihilistic energy of this strange and brilliant band' Independent
'Destined to become a classic of the genre' Louder Than War
'A fastidious portrait of chaos, displacement and bad acid' Mojo
'Music book of the year? Already? Don't bet against it' Crack Magazine
'Read it and writhe' Spider Stacey

From the mountains of Algeria to the squats of South London via sectarian Northern Ireland, Ten Thousand Apologies is the sordid and thrilling story of the country's most notorious cult band, Fat White Family. Loved and loathed in equal measure since their formation in 2011, the relentlessly provocative, stunningly dysfunctional "drug band with a rock problem" have dedicated themselves to constant chaos and total creative freedom at all costs.

Like a tragicomic penny dreadful dreamed up by a mutant hybrid of Jean Genet, the Dadaists and Mark E. Smith, the Fat Whites' story is a frequently jaw-dropping epic of creative insurrection, narcotic excess, mental illness, wanderlust, self-sabotage, fractured masculinity, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute art.

Co-written with lucidity and humour by singer Lias Saoudi and acclaimed author Adelle Stripe, Ten Thousand Apologies is that rare thing: a music book that barely features any music, a biography as literary as any novel, and a confessional that does not seek forgiveness. This is the definitive account of Fat White Family's disgraceful and radiant jihad - a depraved, romantic and furious gesture of refusal to a sanitised era.

Reviews

Goodreads review by fourtriplezed on November 26, 2023

Without knowing it I first came across Fat White Family about 4 or 5 years back. A Graphic designer I then worked with enjoyed the more bizarre world of art and film and was insistent that I watch a rather Pythonish film clip with a fair bit of blood and gore. I recall laughing at its absurdity and......more

Goodreads review by J on May 01, 2022

read about 3/4 of the way through and then blacked out on a train at 5am and lost it, and that for me is the umberto eco ending and the only one i’ll ever know......more

Goodreads review by George on March 15, 2022

[4.5] - this was probably the most-apt book to have devoured in a single sitting whilst in bed with Covid. it's the meditations on race and class that put this a cut above 99% of rock biographies. but some of the editing feels a lil' rusty and all the stories of smack, crack and meth did start to bl......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on February 10, 2024

It's a beautiful book. It's filled with heroin, excrements and fingered arseholes, but it's a lovely book.......more

Goodreads review by Filip on December 14, 2022

The first half is one of the best pieces of literature I have come across in years. The style elevates a rather predictable story to a completely unreal level where every page makes you ask the question why aren't all biographies written this way. The only weakness is the ending (or the lack thereof......more


Quotes

The story of a band that's always on the brink: of stardom, of madness, of brilliance, of disgrace . . . The excess disguises the true heart of Ten Thousand Apologies which is a sort of yearning, a search for enlightenment, a way to live but especially for a home Observer

A jaw-dropping rollercoaster of tragi-comic mishaps and gargantuan drug consumption Rolling Stone UK

A bruising, exhilarating read, which captures the nihilistic energy of this strange and brilliant band Independent

A fastidious portrait of chaos, displacement and bad acid Mojo ****

The tale is told by award-winning writer Adelle Stripe in a striking third-person prose that gives Ten Thousand Apologies a novelistic tone, interspersed with frontman Lias Saoudi's raw, dark, mocking recollections that are also very, very funny at times . . . you begin to wonder why more biographies aren't tackled with such invention . . . There's no great redemption but it offers a quietly triumphant denouement that's more palatable than boring atonement Record Collector ****

From Algeria to London and everywhere in between, Ten Thousand Apologies makes most books about the artist as a young man, the music biz and being in a band just a little bit pallid. Music book of the year? Already? Don't bet against it Crack Magazine

Destined to become a classic of the genre Louder than War

This book is a rarity, the kind I hold near and dear to my heart. The story of The Fat White Family is equal parts high comedy and deep tragedy, just like life itself

A unique concoction, full of beautiful lies and ecstatic truths - one of the finest music books in aeons

Read it and writhe